Many of you will think that this is quite a mundane post. Why bother covering something as simple as mailing a letter? Gosh, it’s happening all around the world all the time. I have a different perspective and I’ll tell you why.
About 20 years ago, when I was still in high school and quite impressionable, I attended a wedding where telegrams were read out by the Best Man as part of his duties. They came from all around the world and consisted of short sentences with “stop” written between each of them if I remember correctly. It was a social norm to send a telegram to close family friends if you couldn’t attend a special occasion. Ask a high school student if they’ve ever seen a telegram before and they’re likely to say no unless they’ve seen them in a museum or in a film. They have been superseded by emails and text messages.
Australia Post has been in the media of late as they’ve moved to reduce their work force with a reduction in the amount of mail sent across our country. Bills and personal correspondence are typically sent by email these days, with a growing movement to this decreasing as well as social media and instant messaging become the favoured choice if communication.
Which gets me back to the original question: Why bother covering something as simple as mailing a letter? I propose that in my children’s life time the humble mailed letter will fade into obscurity. It will become a lost art with virtual communication replacing it. Whilst parcels will still be delivered, addressing an envelope to enclose a handwritten letter will be lost.
Today’s blog post is an opportunity to capture Miss N buying stamps and posting a letter at the age of 5. I believe it will be a talking point when she is older, something her friends and colleagues fondly remember but have no tangible evidence of ever doing.
Our next step is to secure an overseas penpal to send letters (old style). I can’t wait to write about that!
Have you mailed a handwritten letter recently?
A must! Thanks for the reminder 🙂
Here in the USA, one of the many benefits of sending kids away to summer camp is that it requires them to write letters in order to communicate. They write to their friends (yes, handwritten!) and home (what a thrill for us parents!). And then they revert back to their technology obsessions. Woe the parent who does not bring the smart phone to camp pick up. Love your post. Mike and I both remember the telegrams at weddings. It added a sense of glamour. This sense of nostalgia sadly places us perilously close to “old fogie” status. Great post.
Here in Australia it is not common for us to send our kids off to summer camp. I know I always wished it was part of our culture when I was a kid! How long are the camps for?
Telegrams were such fun. I was so looking forward to receiving at least one at our wedding but they had sadly faded out of tradition. Oh gee – I hate when my age hits me! I may indeed be moving it to that “old dogie” period!!
They range from 2 weeks to 6 weeks. It’s a long time for the parents and a short time for the kids when the camp is the right fit.
Cheers!
What an absolutely fantastic idea! You’re completely right – it’s only afterwards as time moves on we often realise what’s disappeared from our lives and how things used to be.